New Begginings
by LyricaBelachium
Summary: AU Drift finds himself left behind by his bondmate, faced with his own creations to take care of and the end of the war, he must find ways to keep going and survive.
1. Chapter 1

"They say for every wish you ask Primus, he will later collect his debt. I never doubted this, but I did what I had to. I spent half of my entire life searching, fighting, reaching for a goal.

I've finally reached it, and now its time to pay the price."

* * *

Drift watched helplessly as the glass pod closed with a hiss, he was aware of everything, every control the medics issued to the system, every gurgle of the sludgy green liquid starting to fill the recovery pod, every little snap the machinery did, and even the silent stirring of the newborn mechlet in his arms, wrapped in a warm thermal blanket, still blind and his protoform bare, too unaware of what was going on.

Yet he couldn't take his optics off of his mate's form, her colors dull and almost gray, a sick decaying color. Her optics were still focused on his defeated figure, looking down with a bittersweet smile, they slowly lost their light.

The mechlet in his arms let out a tiny whimper, stirring closer to his chassis, as if it could feel the start of the separation from his carrier bond. He could feel it as well, the barest of feeling was still there, hanging on tight, trying to hold on until the very last moment.

He wanted to beg, to ask her not to go, to stay with him, he didn't know what to do, how to continue going, Primus how to even take care of his family, he was just lost. But he couldn't ask, he wouldn't.

Asking her not to do this would mean her death, and ultimately his and his sparklings.

' Drift...' he looked up back up, focusing on the small light still in her optics, his own shinning bright.

'I'll be back ...before...you know it...' and with that, it went silent, his bond felt like it suddenly went missing, a vacuum taking its place.

Snap Shot woke with a start, wailing loudly into the quiet room, a series of distressed calls could be felt in his spark, all four of them clinging to his like a lifeline.

It took him all he had to stand firm and not fall apart like they were, sending them their love and comfort.

He only had the mindset to lift the newborn closer to himself a little better, letting himself be guided out of the darkening room and back out into the general medbay, instead of being sent off, he was taken to Ratchet's office, where he was sat on one of the chairs.

Ratchet sat opposite of him, watching silently, giving him his time.

Drift didn't have it in him to talk, the only thing he could do was whisper soft sounds to his youngest creation in a futile attempt to calm him down. He didn't feel like he had the right to talk, to listen, to vent, to live for that matter, it just didn't feel right when your mate couldn't be there by your side.

After what felt like nothing but had probably been for over an hour, little Snap Shot's wails died down, the mechlet falling into an uneasy recharge due to exhaustion.

"Drift" Ratchet's voice was like a piercing blade, cutting through his barely standing wall of paper shielding him from the world. "I know this is hard for you." the white mech didn't look up to the medic, his optics were stuck on his little creation. "But I need you to focus here, this won't be for ever, and as you know you have all the support you need from everyone on the Ark, scrap the Autobots even, every last one of us." he said seriously.

"Its not the same Ratchet." the mech finally spoke up, his voice sounding oddly displaced. "none of them can replace her, none of them can fill her place."

"No." the medic spoke with his typical bluntness "But we can help you hang on until she can return again. This is a ten year medical sleep Drift, all things considered we're lucky that's all she'll need. Her spark is a mess right now, I've had to operate on it six times already, there's so much of a beating a spark can take before it starts to fade. Snap Shot there was the last straw." he said in all seriousness, making the white knight flinch at the words.

Snap Shot had been...a very unexpected accident. Not only was he unplanned, but his spark reacted in a rare and unusual way, it sucked its carrier's spark's energy with an unhealthy speed, making the spark smaller than it should, and nearly draining its carrier very suddenly. There had barely even been time to consider if they wanted him, not that they would have said no, but that was just how fast it happened.  
The result was a very rushed protoform for him, a basic minibot protoform, nothing fancy, he didn't have time for better and AshBringer had been too weakened from the sparkling's constant energy drainage to forge the frame herself like she had before with the triplets.

"There's a whole lot of technical things I'll have to discuss with you. Namely about him and his development to make sure nothing goes wrong. Right now he can't even see, we need to fix that quickly so he doesn't have any sort of lethargic optic systems. Wheeljack's working on it as we speak, but there is a more important matter at hand." Ratchet spoke, bringing the mech once again back to reality.

Drift held his creation fondly, as if afraid Ratchet's words would take him away from him as well.

"Feeding. As you know, at this stage he should still be feeding off of his mother's spark energy, as it is, that is out of the question. We're going to have to give him alternate fuel, hopefully he will accept it, most sparklings do, but there is always the chance that he refuses, if that happens we're going to have to go through alternative ways." Drift shuddered at that, the image of Snap Shot on a medical berth, being fed by a drip line sending him the shivers.

"I want you bringing that mechlet here everyday for the next month, and then every week after that so we can make sure he's developing like he should be."

Every day? That was absurd, impossible even, he had shifts after all, he was bound to be unable to come over once or twice, especially now, five mouths to feed, one being a newborn...

"I'm afraid I can't-"

"Prowl is looking into your situation, I made sure to get it through his thick processor that you're going to need the free time for these things." Ratchet cut him off. "Sparklings are rare Drift, right now, they're everybot's top priority, if a few work shifts have to be moved around, so be it."

He didn't get to say more as someone knocked at the door at that time. Ratchet looked up as the door opened behind Drift.

"I have the energon you requested." Infrared's now familiar voice spoke up as she moved around Drift and deposited a box on the desk.

"Ah, great, this is what you're going to be feeding the little guy Drift" The CMO said, motioning for the box. "should last you three weeks for now, until we can make more. Two a day and no more, I mean it."

Drift could only nod at this, getting up from his seat carefully, his body didn't feel his at all, it felt weightless, like there was nothing to carry inside it.

"Infrared will help you with it to your quarters." with another nod, the white mech made to leave, Infrared quickly picking up the box to follow. "Oh and Drift?" the mech stopped, just slightly looking over his shoulder towards the medic. "Don't be a stranger to ask for help. In anything."

"Thank you Ratchet." he spoke hollowly. "Please take good care of her." it pained him to say it, a sharp deep pain straight to his spark.

"You know I will."

* * *

Author's note:

So, this is an experiment of mine, where I take people's opinions on what they want next for the story, and write based off of that.

The choice this time, is if I should continue with Drift alone from here on out, or if I should go to when his bondmate wakes up.

take your pick, or don't.

Reviews are apreciated as I am still a noob at writting and could use the moral.

thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

Five vorns later...

within a confusing mass of bodies, she tossed and turned, twisted and squeezed in between the others, searching for that familiarity of life next to her.  
Ember refused to wake up just yet, instead she pushed past her brother Booster, unknowingly stepping on his face before snuggling closer to her papa's chassis, where the warmth of his spark was most comforting.

Her papa did always make things feel a lot better, all it took was him being there. With a contented sigh, she smiled and tried to drift back to recharge.

Drift slowly came to his senses, looking down at the form that had just recently re-attached itself to his chassis.

Ember's small form was there, curled up against him and purring lightly, it always pained him a little to see how much she resembled her carrier, though at the same time it made him happy that a part of her was still so very much with them. Ember had red and white coloring, though the predominant color was the red, her helmet, although she wasn't wearing it while she recharged, was spiked like her mothers, but instead of going going back in five followed spikes, it divided into two, one on each side and only two layers of them, not only her appearance but her personality had some things of her mother as well, she was definitely growing into a speedster, fast and hyper almost 24/7 Drift found that it was sometimes hard to keep up with her, thankfully her uncles or aunt helped her a lot of the times with that.

Moving his optics away with her, he looked around for the other four. Aqualight, the other girl of the triplets and the smallest of them was recharging on the spare pillow, looking rather cozy, she was, admittedly spoiled from his own affections to her, always being carried rather than walking around on her own, despite being able to do so, she was a very quite and sweet little femme who loved books and knowledge, and most of all, television. Once in front of a screen, no one could take her away from it until she fell to recharge.

He then spotted snap shot recharging behind ember, curled up in the thermal blanket and apparently in his usual very sound sleep.

Snap shot had a habit of recharging a lot, he was the smallest of course, even for his age, but that proved to be an advantage for his passion: photography.

The little mechling had kept his auxiliary visor and had it upgraded with camera functions, his small size allowed him to get to places no one else could, and to have a very different perspective of the world.

Right now however, his perspective was on the digit being suckled in his mouth.

He then glanced further down, where Booster and StormRider were recharging quietly, those two were the quietest, though in different ways from each other. Booster was usually grumpy, a lot like his mother in fact. He had developed a fascination for Drift since early on and it had only grown over the years, it was clear he did not like the little time they could get to spend some time together and it showed in his actions, because that was the type of mechling he was, actions spoke louder.

Stormrider, much to his grief, had quickly grown much too mature for his age, he was the responsible one, always looking out for his younger siblings, taking care of things for Drift when he couldn't, primus he'd even surprised him when he revealed he had been studying cooking so that he could take care of that as well instead of them waiting hours straight for him to come home.

He meant well however, he had a strong desire to prove he was useful and often needed the security that he was loved and needed since he did not share a bond with them.

Taking a moment to watch they silent cycling, the small little gestures that defined them as they dreamed, Drift was forced to remember why he kept going everyday, though the ache was not as unbearable as in the beginning, he did always need that reminder every day, and when on missions, it was his memory files of them that kept him going, their smiles and voices, their love.

Reluctantly he noted the time, they had to get up now, he had a shift soon enough and for that he was to drop them off with their caretakers.  
Since it was five of them, he often tried to separate them in groups so that it wouldn't burden the one watching them so much, after all, things easily escalated to a hectic mess of screaming and shouting when you had five sparklings in the mix.

Cliffstrider had been particularly generous with watching them, and they always enjoyed being with her, for she was the best one to ask anything about their mother.

Today however, Cliffstrider had a shift as well, and her bonded Nightgale was stuck in the communications tower.

Which meant he had to resort to others, and unfortunately there were only a few available that day.

He really didn't like to leave the boys with Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, but they loved them, and he knew they could keep them safe and entertained, despite the foul language Booster and Snap Shot sometimes acquired.

Aqualight and Ember however were staying with Infrared at the medbay which they always seemed to enjoy as she had once been one of AshBringer's closest friends. There were many stories she told them, and she never seemed to run out of them, some of them he didn't even know of until the girls told him later in the day.

Eventually he figured he couldn't prolong it anymore and carefully began to sit up, waking the lightly recharging femmeling clinging to his armor. She yawned, her mouth going wide open like a little lion before she shook her head sleepily.  
"Its time to wake up" he spoke softly, helping her sit down so that he could wake the others.  
"mmmmmmm...do I have to...?" she asked groggily, rubbing at her optics.

He chose not to answer, she knew very well. Slowly he went to each of the others, shifting them lightly and calling for them.  
Soon enough he had the five of them attempting to reboot their systems fully, at one point Ember tried to sneak under the pillow so she could sleep a few more kliks, but to no avail for she grabbed one of her legs and pulled her out, gaining a squeal of surprise and cheerfulness.

Everything as it usually did, they all went to the living room, save for himself and Stormrider who headed for the kitchen to prepare their morning energon.

A bowl for each, some warm low grade energon and a few energon o's, Drift himself just stuck to the regular warm mid grade cube.

Looking out the window he noted it was a sunny 'summer's' day, which was why he wasn't taking the little ones to school that morning, but him? Oh he still had to work, there was always work somewhere, and he needed it to keep things going.

For the past five Vorns he had never taken a day off unless medically obliged to, which wasn't very often since he kept himself out of the battles most of the time.

He had admittedly participated in a few of the last battles, but one day he got hurt pretty badly, and that had scared not only him but his creations, he never wanted them to have to see him like that again.

Having breakfast ready he gently asked his eldest son to fetch the others, he was much better at it than he was anyway, by now Aqualight was probably glued to the tv watching morning cartoons Blaster brought from earth and Snap Shot was likely back to recharge on the couch. If he was lucky, Ember and Booster wouldn't be fighting as usual.

After only a few kliks he heard running and shouting, and sure enough Booster and Ember burst in, snarling at each other and making a mad run for the chair next to Drift.

Every morning was always the same, wanting to sit down next to him, not only sit down but be the ONLY ones sitting down next to him.

Usually this either ended in one on each side of him or Aqualight and Snap Shot taking those spots before they could.

Today seemed a good day for them, they didn't fight over it too much, which earned them a spot on each side.  
A while later Stormrider came in dragging both Aqualight and Snap Shot, one was clinging to him trying to stand while at the same time attempting to recharge. While Aqualight whined about missing her favorite morning show.

"Time to eat you two, give Stormy a break." Drift spoke up, moving around the table to help them to their seats, they were smallest and getting on the chair was still hard for them.

"But papa! I won't know how they'll find the elements of harmony if I don't watch this episode!" Aqualight complained as she was sat down, looking rather grumpy. Usually she wasn't the grumpy type, unless one of her toys went missing (which happened far too often) or when she was taken away from the TV.

"I'm sure they'll repeat it later this afternoon Aqualight, now eat your breakfast, we have to get you to Infrared at the clinic soon." he said, petting her light blue helmet fondly before moving to help snap shot, now he was the hardest.

Keeping the young mech awake and eat his breakfast was always a challenge.

"Can't I stay home and sleep a few more hours?" he mumbled, curling into his arms as soon as he picked him up.

"I'm afraid not, you can sleep a little more at Sunstreaker's and Sideswipe's place." he said, waiting a few minutes, watching him to make sure he'd actually start eating his food.

After seeing him take the first spoon, he returned to his seat, Booster and Ember were already competing to see who would finish their bowl first, inevitably making a mess of themselves and the table.

"Do we get to see mother this afternoon?" Aqualight spoke up shyly, slowly swirling her spoon in her energon.

"Well..." He really didn't like to take them there all the time, yes he wanted them to know their mother, but it wasn't healthy when they constantly asked to go, and there had been times like that.

As he considered the option, he noted that they had all stopped to listen, looking at him expectantly.

"I do have the afternoon off today..."

"YES!" Ember cheered immediately.

"But we're only going for an hour, after that we have some things to do."

"Like what?" Booster asked, filling his mouth with the cereal-

"Well for one, our dispenser is nearly depleted again" he said, his tone making the mechling shrink a little in his place. He liked to eat...he was a healthy growing mech! "Among other things I need to get."

"Where are we going to get dinner at today then?" Snap Shot asked, starting to perk up a little.

"We'll see when we get there, if you all behave today I'll let you choose."

"I take dibs on Rusty's ol' burgers!" Ember said promptly, raising a hand in the air.

"No way, I want to go to Mcaddam's!" Booster countered, getting a sharp look from his creator and promptly ducking his helm "when I'm old enough..."

"I want to go to Rusty's as well" Snap shot said looking up as if seeking approval from his other siblings.

Stormrider shrugged, looking resigned "its fine with me as long as I get to pick a healthy dish."

"Agreed" Aqualight said calmly, returning to her current meal.

"YES!" Ember cheered, loud and boisterous as usual.

"I guess that's decided then, if you behave I'll take you there for dinner." Drift agreed, finishing his cube.

* * *

The walk to the twins was quick, they didn't exactly live that far away from their own home and were ready to take the mechs.

After dropping them off, Drift took the femmes through the busy-er streets, heading for headquarters.

The clinic could be found along the way, so it was actually a rather convenient drop off for them.

As usual, he had Aqualight in one arm, and Ember holding his hand next to him. They were perfectly capable of walking on their own, but Aqualight preferred to be carried and stay close to him, while Ember on the other hand would easily run off and get lost. No, he was not letting go of that little hand until they were at the clinic.

"I hope Infrared isn't too busy today, so she can tell us a story" Aqualight commented as the building came into view.

"I'm sure she'll have enough time for you, otherwise she wouldn't be taking care of you." He said, stepping inside to the familiar sound of Ratchet's voice bellowing at some poor unfortunate fool.

"-A SYRINGE IS NOT A STINGER YOU FOOL!" ah, must have been one of the rookies, the small white and red mech was seemingly sinking into the floor, staring up in pure horror at the CMO towering above him.

Wisely, he maneuvered past them without calling attention, Ember having gone thankfully quite, she had a bit of fear of him, due to the check ups every once in a while.

He greeted a few mechs and femmes on the way until finally he spotted Infrared not too far away, reading the detail board on one of the resting patients.

"Infrared" He called as they approached, gaining her attention.

"Oh! You're here! And on time might I add" she said, sounding surprised, his femmelings giggling at the comment.

"Good morning to you too... I'm here to drop them off." he said, letting go of ember hand and moving to put Aqualight down, she wrapped her arms around his neck tightly in a hug, giving a small whine before looking up reluctantly at him. "Please come back on time."

It wrenched at his spark whenever they asked that, but sometimes it just couldn't be helped. He had work after all.

"I'll do my best." He promised, giving her a light peck on the helm before she let go. Ember took the chance to hug him next, not letting him get back up.

"You better keep your promise." She said, nuzzling her face under his chin. "And remember, Rusty's ol' Burger's afterward!" she said, pointing at him accusingly, as if implying that he would forget.

He smiled at her cute pouty face, one that reminded him very strongly of his mate and gave her a peck on the helm as well.

"I won't forget, as long as you don't forget your part of the bargain."

"I'll be as good as a little angel" she said, overly innocent.

"I mean it Ember, don't bother the other medics or the patients."

"Okay."

Giving her a dubious look, he got back to his feet and turned to the medic.

"I'll be back after the morning shift, thank you again for this."

"Go on, you're going to be late for work, shoo!" Infrared said, making shooing motions with her hands, the two femmelings copied her, giggling along the way.

They watched him leave in silence, and only when his back was out of their sight, did they turn to Infrared.  
"So, what're we gonna do today?" Ember asked.

"Well, I got you some board games to play if you want?"

"What kind of games?"

* * *

Drift's morning could not have been more routine, he had the patrol shift around the perimiter outside the city's shield. New Autobot city had grown over the years, and every once in a while a new ship of neutrals would arrive and make it even bigger.

Battles were so scarce these days that they were calling it the end of the war. But the ones that actually worked directly under Prime knew, it was never over, so long as Megatron's offline body wasn't locked away or melted into nothing, it was never over.

The decepticons were an ideal, not just a few random mechs, an ideal is unfortunately immortal, but the same could then be said for the autobots.

At lease, he reasoned, it had been a good five vorns of mostly peace where his sparklings could grow like any sparkling should.

"So how're the kids doing? Its been a while since I saw them, are they enjoying their holidays?" Hound, today's patrol partner spoke up after a few hours.

"They are doing well yes, thanks. More than a little excited about not having to go to school." he said the last bit a little bitterly.

Hound chuckled however, seeing the humor hidden behind it.

"Kids will be kids after all." He said, as they drove up one of the bumpy roads around the mountain surrounding half the city.

"Yes, at least it makes it easier to wake them up now." Again the green mech in front of him chuckled. "and I get to spend some time with them as well this afternoon."

"Sounds like you got a full schedule."

"Yes, they've asked to see AshBringer again, usually when that happens it takes quite a few long hours."

"Well you can't blame them, its been what? Five vorns now?"

"Since three weeks ago yes" He agreed sadly, five vorns... he was only halfway through his waiting time. It felt far too long.

"Wow...five vorns...time flies indeed, before you know it, she'll be back up and running, teaching little Ember to race."

"I'm not sure Ember will have the courage to race, she is still a little frightened from last year's incident... Blurr has tried to talk to her about it, but she completely closes off and tries to change the subject."

"Hmm... yeah maybe it was a little too early."

A silence stretched between them for a while as they made a short stop at the top of the mountain, looking around with their scanners, just to be on the safe side.

"You should take them to the park sometime." Hound spoke up eventually. "Plenty of space for them to run and play, and no one will care if they scream too loud."

"Hmmm... perhaps, they do seem to enjoy the place." he agreed, thinking on the matter for a little while.

It was then that they started hearing the siren, it wasn't an ordinary sound these days, but still made their gears tense up, their sparks jumping at attention.

"An attack? I don't see anything" Hound said, quickly transforming to his bipedal mode and looking around.

"Perhaps one of the other patrol groups spotted something, we should hurry back." Drift said in a clipped tone.

"Don't see anything..." Hound said with a frown, before transforming back to his vehicle mode and following the his partner.

* * *

Ember and Aqualight sat on the floor, in a less crowded area of the medbay, Ember was leaned back against Infrared's leg, who sat on a chair behind her reading a datapad, and Aqualight sat opposite of them, pondering her next move, sometimes, this was the reason Ember didn't like to play with her sister, she took too long thinking! Then again she usually won these games. Ember would usually wins the ones based on chance.

"Come onnnnn Zippy! Its been five kliks!"

"It has not been five kliks and I can take as long as I like to ponder my move. And do not call me that, you know how uncle hates it."

"its the fleet! There's little to think of! Shoot my ships down or not! It doesn't matter how much you think, this is a matter of chance!"

"On the contrary sister, while at first this is a game of chance, after setting up a strategy of shots in the dark I can tell more or less the patterns of where your ships may be hidden" The blue femmeling countered.

"Blah blah blah! Just make a move already! You're driving me nuts with all this waiting!"

"You could use with learning patience."

"I second that" Infrared spoke up, not looking away from her read.

"No one asked you" Ember said grumpily.

Aqualight didn't get to pick her move before the siren began to sound across the city, they looked up fearfully before turning to Infrared, recognizing the sound.

Infrared quickly dropped her datapad on an empty berth and god up, looking around the medbay worriedly.

"Red?" the femmelings called in a hushed tone.

"Go in the recovery chamber." she told them with a firm voice, leaving no space for argument. "come on." she turned away from the rest of the medics and quickly tried to push them towards the door.  
They stepped into the dark and gloomy room, looking back up at her uncertainly "wait here, and don't open the door until either I, Ratchet or your father comes all right? Stay quiet, and stay hidden" she ordered before closing the door before them, their only way out.

The recovery chamber was the safest place for them in the medbay, it was specifically reinforced due to the patients recovering there for long periods of time.

With quick brisk steps she moved back to the front of the medbay, joining the remaining medics.

"Seems like we have a breach, a ship came in this morning." Ratchet spoke to his staff , a serious expression on his faceplates. "They weren't who they said they were. We have rogue decepticons running about and hurting bots. No one is to leave the medbay on their own, groups of three, and only two as a last resort may leave to attend the injured, the rest of you are to stay here and protect everyone in here. First Aid, I'll leave you in charge of the medbay in case I have to go on field."

"Yes boss" said medics agreed in unison, spreading out to attend to their duties.

Infrared waited for them to disperse before stepping up to her adoptive father.

"I have the kids in the recovery chamber, I'm going to wait with them inside until this is over."

Ratchet sighed at that, rubbing the cables at the back of his neck tiredly.

"Good, I'll keep First Aid informed, we'll call you when its over."

"Understood, please be careful out there."

Ratchet snorted at that, and was about to reply when a shot peirced the front window, ricocheting on the far wall on the other side.

"SEAL THE MEDBAY!" the CMO quickly yelled over the rush of panic and confusion. "SEAL THIS SLAGGING MEDBAY BEFORE THEY COME INSIDE!"

one of the more experienced medics rushed forwards to the main control panel and had the windows shut with their outer shells.

The door was halfway through closed when heavy steps approached, a hand grabbing at the shield from underneath and stopping it from going further.

The medics quickly transformed their weapons, or picked up their own, pointing it at the door and waiting, none of these were meant for battle, only medicine, but if someone came between them and their patients, they were sure to use it in their defense.

The large stubby hands held onto the shield, its large thick fingers denting it with strength, and with a heave, whoever was on the other side started to pull up.

Ember and Aqualight waited in silence inside the room, they could hear the noises coming from the medbay, not long ago they had heard a shot, and it only served to scare them further and huddle together closer to the large pod where their mother rested. They knew this room well, and everywhere they could hide in, behind the pods was possibly their best choice, whoever came in would focus on the ones inside the pods, and not on the ones behind them.

"Do you think they'll be all right?" Aqualight asked, her voice so low Ember could barely hear her.

' Don't speak...not like that, use our bond' Ember reminded her, hugging her closer. Aqualight always relied on her and Booster to fight her battles for her and this was no different.

' Sorry...I'm scared' and they could feel it perfectly, they could tell each other's fear, and that of their brothers somewhere far away from them.

' Everything's going to be fine Zippy, you know how it goes, they'll keep us safe, papa always makes sure of it.'

' But papa's at work...'

'He's coming for us, I know it.'

They wouldn't dare reach out for him at a time like this, they had been warned not to before, it could seriously distract him if he were fighting, and that wouldn't be good for any of them.

'besides, someone has to stay here to protect mama.' she said, trying to sound more lightsparked than she actually was.

They looked up at the pod for a moment, pondering at the image of their sleeping carrier.

They barely remembered her, they had been only a year old after all when she fell ill with their younger brother's sparking. Not that they resented him for it, okay maybe they did a little in the beginning...but Snap Shot wasn't to blame, and he suffered more than they did for never getting a proper chance to meet her.

It was bad enough the guilt he felt about it, so they never pushed on the subject, their mother had given up ten years of her life in favor of his survival. He was meant to live and live happy.

A scream returned they attention back to the situation, followed by several gun shots and lasers, various different sounds of fighting they were not used to being so close to.

'Maybe we should call papa...I-I don't like the sounds of that...' Aqualight said, clinging to her sister tighter.

' We can't...'

' They're right outside! Papa would want to know' the other reasoned.

' But...'

'He would want to know!'

Before they could argue further however something large and heavy crashed against the door, or rather, it pounded, once, twice, three times...

Their fear was starting to become too large for them to hold in, it began to sip out towards their remaining bonds.

'I don't think that's Infrared.'

' N-nor Ratchet' Zippy agreed, gulping.

'Okay, we call papa' Ember finally agreed at the fith pound.

Their Sire felt panicked, in a rush, his spark was active and searching, all it took was for them to share their fear for him to pay attention to them.

It was hard to talk to him with words yet, other than themselves, the triplets still couldn't communicate with him or with snap shot, who barely even had a notion of his bond yet.

'I'm coming little ones, just hold on a little longer.' he told them, sending them their love and comfort. Aqualight was almost to the point of tears, trembling against her sister.

'Whatever you do, if he breaks through, don't scream' Ember told her, paying attention to all the sounds. The medbay wasn't as noisy anymore, which could only mean two things, the battle was over, and whoever won wasn't friendly if they were busting down the door.

A crack of light told them the door was giving in. thick fingers wrapped around it, pulling and tearing at the door.

They watched in horror as it was torn away and thrown outside the room, a large bulky mech, about the size of Bulkhead in face stood at the door, shadowed from the light outside.


	3. Chapter 3

Aqualight and Ember stood watching in horror, as a large unknown mech stepped inside the recovery chamber, his steps heavy from the weight of all his thick Armour, his red optics surveying the area, specifically around the pods.

"You found'em?" a voice they didn't know asked from the main medbay.

"Yeah" the one before them spoke, his voice was so deep it sounded like he was chewing on rocks. "Ah' found'em all righ'."

"Well hurry up then! Pull the plug on them!"

"Ah'm on it" he said gruffly, the armor in his chest puffing up slightly, clearly he didn't like being ordered around.

'pulling the plug? Does he mean...?'Aqualight asked her sister, looking terrified out of her armor.

'They're going to kill them...' Ember said for her, looking up distressingly ' all of them, including mama!'

'They can't do that! They're defenseless! Its not fair! Its not even a fight! Its murder!'

' We can't let them kill them, we have to do something' Ember said in all seriousness, her sister's optics widening at the mere suggestion.

' what can we POSSIBLY do? We barely even reach his knee!'

'I don't know, but we need to buy papa some time. Maybe we can free the others.'

'Are you out of your processor? Look at him! There's more like him out there!'

'Well you think of something then! You're the thinker!'

' There's nothing we CAN do!'

Ember looked back at her, optics firm, and lip plates in a thin line, she pushed her sister back further behind the pod 'stay here.'

'Ember? Ember what are you doing?' Aqualight said, her spark racing with realization. Before she could make a grab for her, Ember ran out of their hide out, standing right in the middle of the room. ' EMBER!'

"HEY!AFT FACE!" Ember shouted bravely, her little frame shook with the fear she so desperately tried to control.

The intruder turned around from the console he was heading to, and his dark red optics zeroed in on her, widening a little in surprise.

"What did you call me runt?" he growled, turning and moving towards her.

"I CALLED YOU AN UGLY BOTTOM OF THE PIT AFT FACE! DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH THOSE BOTS! THEY'RE DEFENSELESS AND KILLING THEM IS COWARDLY AND LOW!"

The mech seemed amused, not ceasing to approach her as the little femme backed up.

"Brave little words for such a small runt, Does your creator know you have a dirty mouth?" He said, his form only seemed like it increased with the scarier he got "let me clean it for you, so he will never know the awful sounds coming from your vocalizer.

He made a grab for her, but Ember ran right out of his reach, just barely grazing his fingers.

"What the?" He made to grab her again, and she zoomed out of his view, hiding underneath his large legs and looking up with a scowl.

"Wow, I take it back, your AFT looks better than your face!" She taunted, the mech turning around to grab at her behind him, but again she moved out of the way, only barely managing so.

His larger frame and heavier bulk made her speed an advantage.

Aqualight watched in fear, praying to Primus for her sister, her spark crying out for her family as hard as she could, anyone would do right now, they just needed HELP.

"Whats TAKING so long?" the same voice from before spoke from the medbay.

"There's a sparklin' in'ere! Fraggin' glitch to catch!"

"What? Don't let it get away!Megatron wants all sparklings we can find!"

"Ah'm tryin' to!" he grunted, he was backing ember back up against her mother's pod, despite the little femmeling trying to get past him to the other side of the room.

'No!' Aqualight tried harder to call out, she had never called so strongly in her lifestream.

The mech reached forwards and finally, he managed to get a grab of Ember, pulling at her arm as she tried to escape. She screamed, kicked and bit, every trick she could think of to try and get free, but little could affect his armor and it certainly wouldn't be a sparkling.

He lifted her up from the floor, hands around her fragile neck.

"Yeh deserve to die runt, Ah should just end it 'ere an' now." he pressed the little femme against the glass, and his grip tightened, only to stop when he seemed to see something else behind her.

For a moment, Ember's spark stilled, fearing he had spotted Aqualight hidding behind the pod, an evil smirk splitting his faceplates.

"Yer this one's offspring ain't ya?" he said, his optics turning back down at her. "Tryin' ta protect yer creator are ya? Ain't gonna happen, all o' these bots are gonna die, an' ya know why?" he said, sneering down at her, his face so close to her she could feel the heavy breath of high grade coming from him "cuz Lord Megatron wants these medical supplies, kill a few bots an' save some o'ours, easy job. An' once I kill yer creator..." his grip tightened impossibly, making it hard for her neck cables to fuel energon, her processor became a little unclear with the pressure. "Yer gonna die a slow an' painful-" he cut himself off, looking back up behind Ember.  
He was met with white hot optics, a much more frighting image than that of the little sparkling in his hand.

There was no time to react, one minute he had everything under control, the sparkling in his hand, the next, the glass broke, liquid spraying out, a fist connecting with his nose plate, crushing it into several pieces. His grip on the sparkling loosened, and Ember could feel another hand grabbing her by the scruff bar.

Liquid sprayed on her back and poured down on the floor, it was sticky and slippery, and she didn't know what was going on other than that the pod must have broken.

She coughed out the liquid as she felt herself being set down on the floor, her little body shaking with the frighting experience.

'EMBER!' the familiar feeling of her sister's body crashing against her in a desperate hug came as comforting as it could get in that situation. ' We need to back away, come on, before we get hurt.'

'Whats going on? I can't see! This stuff is all over my optics!' the red femmling complained, letting her sister guide her, both nearly slipping on the green goo covering the floor.

' I-I'm not sure...' the other admitted, uncertainty and disbelief coming from her bond.

' What do you mean? Who was that? WHAT is happening?' she could hear the sounds of moving around, the liquid drowning out most of that sound.

' Its mama... she's awake.'

AshBringer stood, half crouched and in a defensive stance, she was running on instinct, the familiar feeling was all too comfortable for her, the adrenaline rushing through her circuitry. She had heard the call, had felt how desperate it was, had felt how hurt one of them were. There was no mistaking that they were two of her creations. How they got there, why they called her, was still not very clear to her, but she woke up, her instincts taking over, she focused on the hurt one, pin pointed where she could feel it from, and advanced.

Whoever this was, he was big, and he didn't mean well.

Her hearing wasn't working, her optics were covered in a disgusting mesh of liquids she'd rather not know the name of, and her body felt sluggish.

She had to wonder how long she'd been in there...probably the ten years promised.

But one thing she could still tell. Her boosters twitched behind her, mapping out the room with their sensory net. It wasn't as good as door wings, but boosters had the same ability, majorly so speedsters could predict obstacles in their path on time to dodge them.

During her training many years ago as a spy, she'd learned she could give it...other uses.

This mech, whoever he was, was heavy, his movements made the slightest vibrations on the floor, and occupied a large portion of the room, which wasn't exactly a good thing because it gave her little space to fight in.

She was better in an open area fight than an enclosed space, much less one with possible innocents.

The mech was getting up, seemingly speaking something by the way he was moving.  
There was no point in waiting for him to finish, without warning, she charged forwards, talking was for those who didn't realize they were at war.

Using as much strength and speed as she could on the slippery floor she rammed onto his front, effectively pushing him enough to make him slip and fall back on his backstruts.

She didn't stop there however, grabbing onto his chest plates and hauling herself up, climbing up his frame.  
The mech managed to grab her by the waist, but she had already gone high up enough. Quickly roaming one hand around his neck cable, she found the needed spot, and pulled.  
The mech gave out a strangled cry, struggling, tossing and turning, trying to shake her off, crush her against the floor.

When her grip pulled strong enough, he stilled, his optics going offline, his mind going blank.

She sat back up on top of the large mech, letting out an exhale of relief which came with a bit of the foul tasting goo.

He wasn't dead, just knocked out for the moment, the neural line giving his processor the data he needed to function had been severed, he wasn't going anywhere.

Giving herself a moment to recover her bearings, she didn't pay attention until she felt that call again.  
She turned towards it, but halfway through something hit her. She was thrown sideways off the mech and against a wall.  
Her shoulder burning hot, a familiar sensation of a laser shot. Now, she could fight a stupid mech twice her size while blinded, no problem. But another enemy holding a gun? Not at the moment.

The only thing she could do against someone like that, was to keep moving and hope she wasn't shot.

Twitching her boosters once more, she noted the mech was wisely moving, changing the spot he shot from, she just had to keep reading the signals and move to strike. The problem was, that it took a whole deal of concentration for her to keep reading signals AND move blinded. Besides...concentration was never her forte.

Moving forwards, her enemy kept changing position, likely shooting at her, she couldn't tell that bit, laser fire was much harder to read through sensors.

The two little femmelings watched with morbid fascination as their carrier avoided the shots with what was either expert skill or sheer dumb luck.

She had taken the large one so easily, so effortless, and now she was going against another, granted she did get shot... her shoulder was smoking, circuitry crackling with energy there, the arm was mostly useless, and followed after the body as if it could not care less.

When they thought she was just about to make it...she slipped.

It was like that moment when you go down the stairs at night, and you reach the end, only to realize that there's is one more step, and your stomach feels like it suddenly has a black hole as you realize you're about to fall.

Their mother fell and slid, the other mech, who had come from the general medbay when eh heard the fight, didn't waste time, running for her, weapon whining with the charge built up and pointed at her.

The noise from the medbay, which had started not too long before their mother broke out of her pod, was all drowned out by the moment, they waited, unable to take their optics off of the scene, she was about to die, his gun was pointed at her chassis, it all felt like slow motion as the light built up, only for the speed of time to return as it were suddenly, a blade peircing through the mech's arm holding the weapon, slicing it through the joint. It fell to the floor lifeless, the owner of the appendage screaming in agony as he was kicked out of the way.

"PAPA!" the two nearly screamed, running out of their hide out to the white mech, they slid and slipped a little on the floor but as soon as they reached him, they latched to his legs as tight as they could.

They had been so focused on the moment, they hadn't seen him come in, nor the other autobots slowly filling the room, guns out and ready, pointing at the only decepticon in the room that was still online.

Drift crouched down, giving each a reassuring hug before returning his attention to his bond mate, who was making an attempt to get back to her pedes, her pose was weary and defensive, her boosters were high above her, and most of the spiked armor that she still had on her was flared out in a "don't come near me" stance.

"Primus all mighty!" They heard Ratchet, the CMO had just come in to see the damage, and his face plates would have been livid if they could.

There were laser shots everywhere, a bit of damage, one broken pod and one of his patients that should not be awake, standing up from the ground.

"Its okay mama, its over, they're friendly" Aqualight said in her gentle tone, though she got no reaction from her carrier. She frowned a little, looking up at her sire uncertainly.

"AshBringer?" He tried, his gaze focused on her, one wrong move and she could actually attack them.

She didn't change, her pose remaining the same.

"She can't hear you." Ratchet spoke up, slowly stepping towards them, he could trust the other autobots to keep their weapons trained on the two decepticons in there, Primus knew if it weren't for them, there would have been serious losses that day. Ironhide's team had gotten there just in the nick of time. "Most of her sensors were shut down for a full recovery, the only thing that should technically be working would be touch and her back sensor panels. Try calling her out through your bond."

Drift nodded at this, looking back to the angered femme and focused, it had been so long since he dared to reach that bit of him, he had closed it tight, trying to imagine it didn't exist for the duration he had to wait.

Now opening it felt strange, almost foreign.

'AshBringer.' the femme jerked on her spot, a clear sign that she'd heard him. ' Its all right, its us, we're standing in front of you, everything is under control now, let Ratchet see your wound.'

It took a moment, but felt a tentative reach.

' Whats going on? Are they all right?' He couldn't even describe what it felt like to hear her again, his spark immediately lit up with warmth and he shared it without another thought.

'Scared but fine, thanks to you.' He answered.

Her pose relaxed, she turned her head to whom she assumed to be ratchet. There were only two mechs in the room that she could tell fit the description, and that was likely Ratchet and Ironhide.

"Is it safe?" The medic asked, watching her every move analytically.

"She knows you're going to look her over." The white mech answered, rubbing circles on his femmelings's backs.

Ratchet then moved forwards, she jerked a little away from him, but then stood still, and waited.

He was patient, and carefully reached for the femme's head, opening the audio to activate it. Liquid sloshed in strings as it separated, the medic ordering first aid to get him a few cloths to wash it off for now.

He worked around it and reached in to online her audios, the femme hissed as it snapped, the sounds coming in as annoying noises and static at first, before settling down to a more mumblings stage that would gradually get more focused.  
"testing, one, two three, can you hear me?" Ratchet asked, closing her audio cover, the femme moved away from him, reaching to cover the device with a groan.  
"Not so loud! D'you know the volume of your own voice mech? Eesh..."

The two sparklings perked up at the sound of her voice, they remembered little about her, but one of the things that was still deep in their memories, was her voice.

Their mother had a strong Iacon accent, much like their aunt and uncles. Though, their aunt often told them that she had a nasty habit of using slang back and forth, and that this had only gotten worse when she had had her training for special ops many Vorns ago.

"You'll get used to it in a bit" He said coldly, though a small smile played on his lip plates. "I'm going to guide you to a berth now, I need to work on that wound."

The elder femme nodded at this, allowing him to direct her around the room, and to support her if she slipped.

Drift quickly grabbed his sparkling and followed behind.

The medbay was a mess, a couple of other mechs were being held at the entrance, surrounded by autobots, their weapons trained on them in case they tried anything.

"Whats going on? Who were those two?And where am I?" Their mother asked ahead of them as Ratchet helped her to sit on a berth, she refused to lie down.

"One question at the time and not while I'm about to work." The medic grumbled, accepting a tray of tools one of his assistants brought him.

"Its complicated." Drift answered for him, her head turning his way, likely following the sound. "We were infiltrated, a group of rogue cons by the looks of things, they were going to raid the medbay's supplies."

"So I'm in the medbay?" The red femme concluded, wincing as the assistant pulled a curtain around them, the noise was a little too strong for her audios still. "Doesn't feel like it, something different about it."

"Its a different medbay, we've...we've landed."

"We've landed? Where? For how long?" She tried her best to ignore Ratchet's probing in her wound, holding in a grunt of pain.

"An organic planet, we've been here for the past five Vorns, and we intend to stay."

"Stay? Isn't that a little risky? I mean-"

"Its safe, the war is over. Well for the most part anyway, no one's seen Megatron since our last battle with him, the one that we had a few weeks before Snap Shot was sparked if you remember."

"The one where you returned half mangled and with a broken sword?" She said bitterly "Yes I remember that"

He chuckled at her tone, noting the slight irritation. She had thrown an absolute fit over his sword and left him to Ratchet rather that o take care of him herself. When he had finally gotten out of the medbay she already had it repaired like brand new. He never trusted anyone to repair his great sword other than her. She had shown a great respect for it from the very beginning, and he knew she would never alter or upgrade it, unlike many other blacksmiths that worked for the autobots.

The femme huffed, not replying to his amusement. She pretended to watch Ratchet work for a while, before speaking up again.

"Are they all right?"

Understanding she spoke about the two little femmes in his arms he nodded, forgetting she couldn't see him.

"A little shaken up, but yes."

"It was scary" Aqualight spoke, half hiding her face into his armor.

AshBringer stiffened at the sound, optics wide and bright under the green liquid still covering them, as if she had not expected to hear the voice.

"I'll say, I thought that was it for me." Ember agreed, rubbing at her neck cable and then pointing at it accusingly while looking up at her sire. "He tried to strangle me! But I'm okay now, cuz mama punched him in the nose, you should have seen it papa! There were wires everywhere! He looked like squidwart!"

"Like what?" He asked a little confused, but amused by her excitement, his optics inevitably scanned her neck, there were a few marks, but nothing life threatning.

"You know! From Sponge Bob!" she said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"A cartoon character papa" Aqualight said helpfully.

"Ah..." He said, taking in their appearance a bit better. They were a mess, dirty and covered in scratches, some glass was stuck on ember's back along with the goo.

"Go clean them up in the wash racks at the back" Ratchet spoke up, as if he knew what he was thinking "I should be done with this by the time you're done."

"Are you certain?" He asked, looking to his bondmate, searching for her approval. She looked torn, her processor was likely catching up to its regular speed, which as he last experienced, was something just not right for normal mechs. He could barely keep up with it.

"Clean them up, then you can come back." The medic insisted.

"Very well." He turned back to his mate "I'll be back in a few kliks, It won't take long."

Before she could answer however, Ember piped up "But I don't wanna!"

"Ember... you have glass stuck to your back, I need to get that off."

"It only itches a little! I can take it!"

"Oh no you don't young femme, we're cleaning those off."she wriggled in his arms, as if trying to disagree. "We'll be back."

"Right... not like I'm going anywhere" she answered with a slight nod."

She listened to him leave, and only spoke again when she knew they were away.

"They sound all grown up..."

Ratchet snorted at the comment

"Now where did you get off that idea? I can understand Aqualight, but Ember?" he shook his head lightly. "That femmeling is every bit as immature as you can be."

"I'm not certain if I should take that as a compliment or an insult."

"Its a mixture" he said non chantingly. "You gave us quite a scare...I'm still trying to figure out how you're actually standing and talking."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, its too early for you to wake up." he said with a grunt, struggling with realligning some of her smaller cables.

"How early?"

"Way too early. Five Vorns early." there was silence for a while, the only sounds were the rest of the medbay and his work.

"Five Vorns? Is this... going to have any repercussions?"

"I can't tell, not yet. We're going to have to give you a series of scans first, see whats going on. There's a chance I might have to put you back in the pod."

"I see..."

"I'm sorry."

"No, no... its fine. It was meant to happen anyway right? I wasn't supposed to be up."

"I have yet to figure out how that happened. It shouldn't be possible."

"I just...I felt something, someone crying for help, really really strongly, and I recognized it somewhat, I just knew I had to wake up, to move, to do something, that I was going to lose someone dear to me."

"Hmn...carrier programing...I'll have to have a look into that. On the bright side, both your femmelings are now safe and alive. They wouldn't be if you hadn't intervened."

"Who was hurting them anyway?"

"We don't know yet, they came in this morning, pretending to be neutral refugees, seeking shelter, much like the other ships."

"We're taking in neutral refugees now?" she asked confused.

"Things have changed a lot kiddo, we've sort of settled down in this planet, what was once a station quickly grew into more of a city."

She didn't respond to that, taking it in. Last she knew they were still wondering around space aimlessly, trying to survive the Decepticons and defeat them.

When the decision to recharge for ten vorns came all that time ago, she had known the consequences of it:

she could have died while in recharge, her family could have died, bots could change with time, and the many many vorns she'd lose of her life, most of her creations would have been younglings by the time she was meant to wake up. She gave up the chance to see them grow up, to hear Snap Shot's first words and steps, to see them grow up and develop into their new frames, their personalities growing.

She would also miss on her bonded, they hadn't been bonded for more than a year before things escalated to her situation. Yes they had known each other a while before that, it didn't just happen out of the blue. It had been something that had required a lot of work.

She had to wonder how he changed, if he still loved her the same way, if he cared, if he was bitter or angry for not being there all that time. What little she had just heard and felt from him, was not enough to make assumptions of.

"Your optics are dimming." Ratchet's voice broke her out of the deep thoughts she was sinking into.

"S-sorry. Guess I'm still a little tired..."

"How does your spark feel? Any pain?"

She flickered her optics for a moment, the equivalent of a blink, and thought on it before answering.

"Not really, just feels tired and sore, but nothing like it had been before."

"I'm going to keep you in the medbay for a few days." he said, and she felt him put something in her servos. "Clean those optics already, you'll want to see those three when they come back."

"Right... thank you." she said, taking it to her face with her good hand and starting to brush off the sticky liquid.

They continued in silence, when her optics were clean and clear the looked around the medbay, optics brightening whenever she spotted someone she thought she recognized.

Ratchet looked, if possible, a whole lot older, and a whole lot grumpier, and he was actually being quiet for now. She let him work in peace, knowing it meant a nice clean treatment for her.

But it was hard not to talk, she had so many questions that she felt if she opened her mouth, she would pull a bluestreak at top speed.

"There, that should do it for now, the rest is up to your self repair, try not to move it."

"Will do." she said, making to get off the berth only for him to push her back to it.

"Stay, I'm going to give you a few moments with them, but after that I'm having a couple of femmes help you wash off before we can take you to your own room here. You dare walk out of this berth on your own and I will wrench you from across the medbay understood?"

She grinned back at him, that characteristic, tomboyish grin of hers.

"Loud an' clear Hatchet."

Ratchet gave her a good humored glare and went off, grumbling to himself about stupid adults behaving like sparklings.

She sat back against the wall to which the medberth was mounted to, and pulled up her legs, hugging them to her chest and looking on to the busy place thoughtfully.

Mechs and femmes went back and forth, cleaning up and organizing everything that had been trashed, she found herself nodding off, and before she knew it she'd fallen back to recharge.


	4. Chapter 4

When AshBringer next realized she had fallen to recharge, she forced her systems to online as quickly as possible. Only to find herself lying down somewhere, staring up at a dull gray ceiling.

She made to sit up but a hand pushed her back down.  
Confused she followed it to the owner, and was met with the dim optics of the mech she'd so long ago decided to be with, a small, soft smile graced his features and he raised a finger to his lip plates in a silence gesture, proceeding to motion towards her waist.

Following it, she noticed there were two little femmes sleeping next to her, bundled up in their own thermal blankets, staying as close to her as they possibly could.

"They fell to recharge some groons ago, didn't want to leave without saying something."

"groons? How long have I been out?" she spoke back in an equally low voice, watching the slight shifting of their bodies as they cycled peacefully.

"Three groons, we took a little too long in that shower, it was a mess to take the glass off of Ember." he said, reaching out to pet the red femmeling's helmet. She instinctively moved her head, to nuzzle her face against his palm, recognizing his presence with ease.  
"That's Ember?" well she did look even more like herself than she did when she had last seen her.

Drift nodded, not taking his optics off of the two sparklings.

"And the other, is Aqualight. The boys are with Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, I had to call them and tell them I'd be a little late..." He finally shifted his gaze from them, and back to his bondmate's very awakened optics, a sight he'd prayed to see for vorns and didn't expect to have the privilege of seeing so soon. "I can't believe you're actually with us again. It felt like you never would, like Primus was purposely punishing me, making you be right there and yet not here with me."

"Drift..." she said, sensing his unease.

"Forgive me, its been a long day..." he said, looking a little regretful.

"No its fine. I get it." she paused, letting her processor catch up with her thoughts. "Did Ratchet tell you...?"

"Yes. I'm aware that your stay may be short." he avoided her gaze again.

"I wish it weren't...but if it ends up like that..." she struggled with her words, her feelings were confusing even to herself. She had her own doubts after all.

"I'll bring them to see you before you do" he spoke for her, knowing her intentions.

"Thank you." she said, reaching down to pet the two little femme's helms, a little hesitant at first, but when aqualight moved to recognize her own hand, she felt a little more confident. "And what about you? How have you been doing?

"I have... been...well." he said, his tone giving him away.

"I'm a terrible liar Drift, but you're not that far behind me right now."

"Its not that it has been bad." he explained. "But I won't deny raising all five of them alone has been hard. Even with all the help I've been fortunate to get from your family and the autobots."

"I'm sorry." was all she could think of "I should have been there."

"You couldn't. And its in the past now, thanks to you Snap Shot is a healthy young mech, very alive and doing well. The price you payed wasn't wasted."

"That's a relief to know." she said with a small smile "what is he like?"

He seemed to ponder on it for a moment, as if choosing the right words. "Well he can be very difficult to wake, he easily falls to recharge. He enjoys photography, most of our family albums were done by him. He said he'd keep building them so you could see when you came back."

"That's a sweet personality he's got there, must have gotten it from you" she snorted playfully.

"You can be sweet, you just like to pick your moments." he countered with a smile, leaning down to nuzzle his face against hers, she let out a purr of contentedness, happy to see there was at least a part of Drift that still accepted her.

"Now you're just being too sweet, you're going to spoil me."

"I fully intend to, as soon as we can get you out of here."

"Sounds like you're a mech with a plan."

"That I am my lady."

the two shared a few moments nuzzling their faceplates to one another soft purring starting after only just a few moments before they felt like they were being watched.  
"Don't mind us, we're invisible" a tiny voice spoke up as the two looked down towards two very big and very curious pair of optics.

"You, are supposed to be recharging." Drift said, reluctantly pulling away from his mate to sit back up straight and give their sparklings a mock glare.

The two giggled, trying to look innocent.

AshBringer took the chance to pull herself up and sit, noting how her joints groaned in protest, the simple act seeming like a big task for her.

"Do your joints hurt mama?" Aqualight asked cutely, crawling up the bed and sitting next to her side against the rubber pillow.

"No sweety, I'm just a little weakened. Its been a long time since I last moved and my body is just not used to it anymore." She said, reaching down to pet her head, relishing on the fact that she didn't move away or flinch, but looked instead rather curious.

"How fast can you move? Can you run like uncle Blurr? Or more like Aunt Aqua? Who're you more like? Do you even like to run? Whats your favorite type of food?!" Ember quickly pipped up, following after her sister and sitting on the other side, completely comfortable with it and easily getting all snuggly. Her mouth never stopped speaking.

"Easy there. Right now a space slug is faster than I am. And I like spicy food, though I doubt Ratchet will allow me any anytime soon. Not that we have any around anyway."

Drift chuckled at the conversation.

"I think we can arrange something like that for when you come home."

' if I come home' she reminded him through the old bond. And it was a struggle to do so, it had been unused for so long that it felt dormant, rejoining their sparks would likely make it easier for them but at the moment that was completely out of the question.

His expression saddened for a moment, but he only let it slip for that long, before she could point it out it was back to the soft smile he gave his sparklings.

"Well, thanks for rescuing us anyway" Ember spoke, hugging a little over half her waist, AshBringer was a bit surprised by her unconditional acceptance.

"Um... you called, and you're more than welcome, I'd face a thousand armies if it meant saving you again." she answered, reaching for her spiked helmet as well, petting it, curious to know if they still had the same soft spots as when they were a year old.

"really? I'd like to see that?"

"No, you wouldn't Ember, and don't ask your mother to do it." Drift spoke up, his voice seemed to give what little control she needed not to go overboard with her excitement.

"So you are coming home with us?" Aqualight asked, relaxing more into the touch, starting to get comfortable as well.

"I don't know yet, Ratchet wants to run some scans first...this was not meant to happen. I...may have to return to sleep."

"But you just got back! You can't go again!" Ember said abruptly, turning in her place to look directly up at her with begging optics. It almost felt like looking at a mirror of herself, seeing herself when she was young and lost her own parents to the war, asking the skies and Primus not to leave her alone. Her spark ached with guilt upon seeing it in her own little sparklings.

"We don't know anything yet. I assure you, if it were up to me I would love to stay, but if I must return to sleep then I will have to, or my stay with you will be even shorter than it can be."

"I don't understand" she whined, Aqualight was being disturbingly quiet, her little hand was the only sign of the same reluctance, gripping at her hip tightly.

"What I mean is...its either I spend a few weeks with you guys now and never return again. Or go to sleep now and return in five more years, to stay for many many years ahead."

"But that's not fair!"the red femmeling protested, her voice trembling slightly.

"Ember we've talked about this before, don't make it harder...please..." Drift spoke, reaching for the young femme.

"But WHY?! Why do you have to sleep so long?!" Ember was now reaching to a point Drift knew he couldn't stop her from breaking down, and if one of the triplets went down, all three did. "We want you back! You have to be there for our upgrading! Our first transformations! The rest of our reformat!our creation days!Please! You have to stay!" she was now lightly hitting her mother on the chassis, as if that would make her begging more profound.

"Ember..." she knew she would miss these things, that her absence would affect them, and she had feared facing it. Guilt overrode almost all circuits in her. "I've done a lot of things in my life...lots of stupid things, and I tried fixing them, I've done things I shouldn't have and there's a price for that.

This is my price. I exerted my spark too far, pushed too much, I wish I could keep pushing, just continue pushing so I could stay longer with you guys, but I can't this time." Ember looked sparkbroken by now, as if she was seeing all her hopes being taken away, on the other side Aqualight trembled, trying to contain her sobs. She maintained the gaze with them, paying them all the attention they demanded now "Trust me, if there was anything I could do to stay, I would. All I could think of in my dreams all this time, all I could see all my existence in that state, its always been your little faces, your laughs and giggles, and always asking Primus when it'd be over, when I could see you again." she gently wrapped her arms around them, bringing them to a closer and more intimate hug. "I just beg for it to be over so I can be with you again as soon as possible." her own voice was giving in, shaking with emotion and the two started letting out little sobs.

"And I'm just so sorry... I'm so sorry you have to go through this. I'll make it up to you, I swear I will, I'll never abandon you, I'll never stop loving you. You're my little ones, and that means its impossible for me to ever forget you, to ever stop feeling for you." she could feel little drops of energon falling on her body, small tears from the two. "shhh... this isn't meant to be a moment of sadness. We got this little chance haven't we? We should take advantage of it, not cry over it." she tried to soothe them, but to little avail.

She looked up at Drift looking for some form of guidance. The look on his face however was even more lost than hers, a saddened haunted look, it struck her spark most painfully.

They had been barely holding on, even him, he who had to keep a strong stand for them and shield them from their problem.

Her temporary awakening would only bring pain to them, break that fragile hold he had in their balance. It would have been better if she had not woken up at all. Or it would be better if she didn't go back to medicated recharge...yes, there had to be a way, Ratchet had to find a way. She simply could not afford to go back to a long sleep.

"I'm not leaving you." the two little sparklings momentarily stopped their cries, looking up at her with stained faceplates, Drift looked up as well, being met with the bright and determined optics that gave his mate one of the most interesting assets. Her strengh."I'll be doing whatever I can not to leave again, but I need you to believe in me for that, I need you not to cry, not to give up. Do that, and I promise you, I will force myself to stay, I will force my own spark to heal faster if I have to."

* * *

Eventually Drift managed to leave later that day, when the two girls had fallen into an unsettled recharge, they had not allowed him to take them away until then, and they were probably going to throw a fit when they woke up, but his own mate was tired, he needed to let her rest.

Now he finally found himself reaching Sideswipe's and Sunstreaker's home to pick up the mechlings, it was almost the end of the day, and he had some apologizing to do to them, they were only meant to look after them in the morning.

He pressed the door buzzer and waited, he heard some shouting, his young mechs's voices and quick steps to reach the door.

"Shh! Snap Shot I told you to be quieter! Your brother is still asleep!" he heard Sunstreaker's voice, trying to be soft and failing it with a weird mixture of a growl and gritted denta.

"Sorry uncle Sunny, but I know its dad this time! I can feel it!"

"Right.. you've been saying that since noon." the door slid open, and he was met with Sunstreaker's dubious face.

"PAPA!" Snap shot came running out and hugged his leg.

"Oh... It IS you. What took you so long? Do you even know what time it is? I know you're usually late but today was overkill." The golden mech questioned, crossing his arms with a huff, expecting a pretty good excuse.

"I know, I apologize Sunstreaker, something important came up, the medbay was struck by the infiltrators earlier."

"Yes we heard from Ironhide, he said those two were safe." he said motioning for the femmelings recharging in his arms. "Booster had these weird emotional swings all day, at one point we thought he was actually going to fall apart and cry."

"Is he all right?"

"Fell to recharge not too long ago. So what happened?"

"I will explain everything if you let me, but first may I see him?" Sunstreaker stepped aside to let him in, snap shot took the lead and ran ahead into the twins's appartment. Sideswipe was waiting for them in the living room, talking about something with Stormrider who kept a watchful optic on his recharging brother.

"Father." he spoke up, interrupting his conversation to stand up and greet him in a brief hug around his legs. "You took longer than usual." His visor flickered, the optics behind it stopping momentarily on his sisters, as if he was putting two and two together.

"I'm sorry, I will explain everything, can you please sit down?" he nodded, and taking Snap shot's hand dragged the reluctant mechling back to the couch. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe exchanged looks with each other.

It wasn't everyday that Drift just stopped inside for a while to explain himself, usually he's just say it and go home after apologizing.

"Earlier today..." he said setting down the two femmelings. "some bad mechs infiltrated our city."  
"Did you get the bad guys? Did you give them a lesson?!" Snap Shot asked excitedly, his elder brother having to hold him back from the edge of the couch, lest he fall on his face.

"Yes and no. Not before they managed to take down the medics, your sisters were hiding in the recovery chamber, but they went in there, wanting to offline the bots on life support."

The two mechlings went very still, not able to take in the full meaning of the phrase.

The twins on either side of the couch where Drift sat however, felt a bit of dread, there were a lot of friends of theirs in there, and the mother of these mechlets among them, which would have explained Booster's behavior.

"They spotted Ember before that, and tried to hurt your sister really bad."

"What happened? Is she okay?" Stormrider asked, looking at his sleeping sister worriedly.

"She's fine, a little disturbed but fine..." he took a moment, cycling air to clear out his processing unit.

"Your mother woke up."

The phrase had more weight than even he expected, they looked at him as if they had just witnessed a carnage and were in a state of shock.

"W-what? Excuse me but did you really just say that... you know... your mate, our friend, AshBringer just woke up five vorns before planned?" Sideswipe spoke up, the first to come out of it. Drift nodded slowly.

"Apparently they were trying to call for my help so hard, it woke her up instead, they were pretty frightened, Ember nearly..." he couldn't finish the phrase, it just shouldn't be said. "I got there a little later, just in time might I add. Ratchet is going to be supervising her for a while, see what the situation is and if we have to put her back to recharge, its very uncertain right now. But she is awake from medicated recharge, and will be until Ratchet sees it otherwise.

Stormrider was still staring up at him as if he couldn't believe his audios, not daring to trust them.

Snap shot however, recovered quicker.

"So...we get to meet her? Do we get to talk to her and stuff?"

"Perhaps yes, she has asked me to bring you to her, if you want that is. She's really looking forward to seeing you." He said, giving his youngest a soft smile.

"When?"

Drift had to actually think about it. It would be a while if he kept with his planned work schedule, and honestly he did not wish to waste a minute away from his bonded if she was just going to stay for a while.

"Maybe you should finally take those few days off "Sunstreaker said with a grunt, the twins reading his dilema "its about time you do, you must have piled up a good amount by now."

"I know... but I don't feel that it would be a good idea to take time off ..." he said, a little concerned.

"just talk it over with Prowl, I'm sure he'll understand, and if he doesn't...well...you can tell him he'll have to talk to us." Sideswipe said with a wide grin.

Even now, he was still the same old prankster, hardly had he grown up.

"I'll have to see to it with him tomorrow." Drift agreed tiredly, rubbing at his faceplates. "Again I really apologize for today Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, I'll make sure it won't happen again."

"Hey, if it means Ash's waking up, think nothing of it."


End file.
